Mexican Wedding Cookies | Hazelnut Butter Balls

If you are looking to make the most addictive edible gift to make for holidays, then try this Mexican Wedding Cookies recipe. Also known as Hazelnut Butterball cookies or Snowball cookies, these literally melt in your mouth.

This Mexican Wedding Cookies is one of my favorite for many reasons. One they just look absolutely super cute and perfect for the holiday season.

They are tiny and just the right size to pop into your mouth. This recipe yields quite a bit of cookies and that means it is perfect when making for a large crowd.

Making edible gifts for Holidays has been a tradition in our family ever since my boys were born. My blog is filled with cookie recipes as it is something I bake very often for us as well as for gifting. I enjoy baking different cookies and packing them. Buying cute little cookie tins has become almost an obsession for me.

What Kind of Nuts to use

I first tried this Mexican Wedding Cookies recipe few years ago, back in NY. This recipe is from my dear friend Marybeth and she had made this recipe with pecans and called the pecan butterball cookies. I go back and forth and make these cookies with any available nuts.

This year I made it with pecans. My neighbor has a Pecan farm and we buy fresh pecans from him this time of the year. So, use any nuts of your choice but make sure that they are fresh. The cookies use quite a bit of nuts and gets its flavor from it. We don't want stale smelling or tasting cookies.

What other cookies are baking in my kitchen?

The family favorite recipe that I made this year again was the Old fashioned Ginger cookies. My holiday baking cannot be complete without these ginger cookies as my little one loves them.

I also made some Orange scented Cranberry walnut cookies. The house just smelled amazing after baking these cookies and screamed holidays.

If you are looking for some other cookie to bake with pecans, then this Pecan Shortbread Cookies is an absolute must. I also have a gluten free Chocolate cookie recipe with pecans if you are looking for a gluten free option.

These snowball cookies are so simple to make with just the basic ingredients. We need the flour, sugar, butter and some nuts along with vanilla flavoring. You can use a stand mixer like I use or a hand mixer will work just fine.

This time of the year my Kitchen aid stand mixer works the most (only second to me though). I have it out constantly making batches and batches of cookie batter. This year we baked over 600 cookies and I might still have a batch or two to bake.

Preparation time – 15 mins
Cooking time – 25 mins per batch
Difficulty level – easy

Ingredients Needed

• Butter (Unsalted) – 1 cup (room temp)
• All Purpose flour – 2 cups
• Granulated Sugar - ⅔ cup (can use ½ cup if you prefer less sweeter cookies)
• Vanilla – 2 tsp
• Hazelnut or pecans or walnuts – 1 ½ cups (finely chopped)
• Salt – ½ tsp
• Powdered sugar – for coating

Step by step process

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line couple of baking trays with parchment and keep aside.

• In the bowl of a mixer, add the sugar and the butter.

• Cream them until light and fluffy (about 5 mins). Now add the salt and the vanilla and mix them well.

• To the butter mixture, add the flour little by little and mix well until completely incorporated and forms dough.

• Now add the chopped nuts and mix it well.

• Make about half inch balls and place them in the prepared cookies sheet.

• Bake them for about 25 min or until slightly browned.

• As soon as they come out of the oven, roll them in powdered sugar and set aside in a cooling rack. Be extremely careful since the cookies would be really hot and very fragile. It is very important to roll them as soon as they come out of the oven to get the sugar to coat well.

• Once the cookies have cooled down entirely, roll them again, for the second time in the powdered sugar.

Expert tips

• It is very important to use good quality, fresh nuts as the recipe uses quite a bit of them. The cookies take up a lot of flavor from the nuts and you want them to taste the best.
• Remove the butterball cookies from the oven as soon as they are light golden brown.
• Roll them in powdered sugar right after they come out of the oven. Using a spoon helps as the sugar melts quite a bit when handling with fingers.
• It is essential that we roll them again in powdered sugar once the cookies cool down entirely.

Frequently asked questions

More festive cookies

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Mexican Wedding Cookies | Hazelnut Butter Balls

If you are looking to make the most addictive edible gift to make for holidays, then try this Mexican Wedding Cookies recipe. Also known as Hazelnut Butterballs, these cookies literally melt in your mouth.

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: Mexican

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 60 small cookies

Calories: 72kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup Butter Unsalted (room temp)
• ▢ 2 cups All Purpose flour
• ▢ ⅔ cup Granulated Sugar can use ½ cup if you prefer less sweeter cookies
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Vanilla
• ▢ 1 ½ cups Pecan finely chopped (can use hazelnut or walnut as well)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ ½ cup Powdered sugar for coating (might need more or less)

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line couple of baking trays with parchment and keep aside.
• In the bowl of a mixer, add the sugar and the butter. 
• Cream them until light and fluffy (about 5 mins). Now add the salt and the vanilla and mix them well.
• To the butter mixture, add the flour little by little and mix well until completely incorporated and forms dough.
• Now add the chopped nuts and mix it well.
• Make about half inch balls and place them in the prepared cookies sheet.
• Bake them for about 25 min or until slightly browned.
• As soon as they come out of the oven, roll them in powdered sugar and set aside in a cooling rack. Be extremely careful since the cookies would be really hot and very fragile. It is very important to roll them as soon as they come out of the oven to get the sugar to coat well.
• Once the cookies have cooled down entirely, roll them again, for the second time in the powdered sugar.

Notes

Expert tips

• It is very important to use good quality, fresh nuts as the recipe uses quite a bit of them. The cookies take up a lot of flavor from the nuts and you want them to taste the best. 
• Remove the cookies from the oven as soon as they are light golden brown. 
• Roll them in powdered sugar right after they come out of the oven. Using a spoon helps as the sugar melts quite a bit when handling with fingers. 
• It is essential that we roll them again in powdered sugar once the cookies cool down entirely. 

Nutrition

Calories: 72kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 47mg | Potassium: 16mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 96IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @Sandhya.Ramakrishnan or tag #MyCookingJourney!